


Waiting Around Corners

by Lapin



Series: Braveheart [2]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Recreational Drug Use, Teenagers, Weed, teenagers being dumb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-26
Updated: 2015-07-26
Packaged: 2018-04-11 07:29:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4426637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lapin/pseuds/Lapin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nori's always in and out of trouble, and Dwalin is not his boyfriend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Waiting Around Corners

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Blue_Sparkle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Sparkle/gifts).



> Annnnnddddd the next Patreon fic that's getting posted today. Oh gawd, I have a headache. This one is for Sparkle, who wanted a sequel to _Ripped Jeans Cigarette_. This title comes from the Neon Jungle song "Trouble", which is my favorite Nori-song.

“When do I get to meet your boyfriend?” 

Nori picks at the tomatoes and toast Mori had set out. He should have known this was a trap. Mori never feeds him unless she wants something. “Well, considering he's a hallucination of your twisted little mind, I'm going with never.” He looks a bit closer at the toast. Still looks good. Nori's hungry, and he's not picky.

“I'm going to punch you in the head, and no one in this house will stop me.” She's looking for detergent amongst all the brightly coloured bottles, the door to the washing machine open, stuffed full of clothes.

“Not true!” Nori kisses Ori on the top of the head. He smells like Sori's melon conditioner. “You'll protect your big brother, won't you? Because you love me.”

“Yes,” Ori answers, his eyes on his book. “Can I have more juice?” 

“Of course, duckling,” Mori coos, taking Ori's glass and refilling it. 

“You never get me juice,” Nori complains, just to do it. 

“He can't even reach it. You're grown...sort of.” It's long been Mori's favourite target; Nori's height. “And stop lying, you little ingrate. Ori says he pushes him on the swing.” 

Nori pokes Ori in the head, annoyed. Quiet as he is, Nori forgets how much he can talk when it's something he's not supposed to be talking about. “Dwalin isn't my boyfriend, you little grass. Stop telling lies.” He really isn't. “Where's Sori, anyway? She was supposed to be home by now.” He ruffles Ori's hair where he poked him, Ori leaning into the touch. “Haven't seen a police car in a fortnight. What do you think they're up to?” 

“Planning a raid, or something else annoying.” She shuts the washer door, starts the cycle, and sits down. Then she rocks back on two legs, and her knee is against the table, so Nori can see where a hole is starting to wear. “So if he's not your boyfriend, what is he?” 

“Fun.” And he is. Dwalin is a good way to pass the time when Nori would usually be getting himself into trouble. He never says no when Nori wants to get in his lap, or when Nori pulls Dwalin on top of himself. Says a lot of stuff, but never says no. Nori likes him. “Do you really have nothing better to do than get in my business?” 

She shakes her head. “It's Friday. There's nothing on the telly.” She rocks in the chair a little, her arms crossed over her chest. “Sori says she thought he was the bloke you got in a fight with, a few months back?” 

Dwalin had bruised up the whole side of Nori's face, he'd hit him so hard. When Nori's bruised, there's isn't ever any hiding it. “Nothing to worry about. We've resolved our issues.” Nori gave back the lighter, Dwalin said he was sorry. Everything is fine. “I can handle myself, Mori. Don't need you following me around.” 

“You always say that, and you're always lying to me.” That's usually the case, but it's not this time. All he wants from Nori is a steady supply and sex. The food Nori brings from Bombur's place seems pretty welcome too. It works for them. Might keep working for a little while longer, if Dwalin doesn't get bored with Nori too quick. There's a trick to that, Nori thinks, he just hasn't worked it out yet.

“He's not my boyfriend.” Nori stands up. “I'm going out for a bit. I'll text if I get held up.” He kisses Ori on the head again, then Mori on the cheek. “Save some dinner for me, too.”

“Only because I think if you get any skinnier, you'll float away,” she replies, picking up her mobile off the table. “Be careful.” 

Outside, Nori tries to put it all out of his head. Mori likes reading more into things than what's really there, she always does, and she's never even met Dwalin, just gotten second-hand gossip from the rest of the lot. He doesn't need to take anything she says to heart. If he did, he'd probably still believe he'd been found on the doorstep, because Mori could be a right bitch when she felt like it, and she'd always liked having a go at Nori when they were kids.

Fuck it, she still likes having a go at Nori. 

He goes over to Bombur's place, looking for Sori, just to be sure she's where she's supposed to be, and finds her in his office, smoking a cigarette while Bofur counts out some cash from the safe. “So unsanitary,” he chides, dropping himself in a chair. “What will people say?”

“Hey Nori,” Bofur says, while Sori holds up two fingers at Nori. “Aren't you supposed to be in school today?” 

“School got out an hour ago, which you would know if you had finished, you lazy arse.” Bofur had been a year ahead of Nori back in secondary school, but once he'd turned sixteen, he'd been done. Dori wasn't having that with any of them. They went to school, one way or the other. “What are you doing?”

“Participating in the vicious cycle of capitalism,” Sori says. 

Bofur makes a face. “Ain't nothing vicious about getting paid. We're all friendly here.” He counts out a nice stack of notes, easily five hundred pounds, and hands it to Sori. “Here. That should settle us for the week.” 

“Cheers.” Sori counts it out quickly, just checking, Nori knows, then tucks it all away inside her bra. “What are you doing here, anyway?”

“Don't know,” Nori shrugs, because he really doesn't have much a reason. “You weren't home, thought I'd look for you. And Mori was being nosy.” 

“What else is new?” She stands, adjusts her clothes. “I need to head back to the house anyway. Mori wanted to do the shopping today, and she needs this to do it. You coming with me?” Nori shakes his head, too restless. It's still light out, mostly, and that means he's got some time to wander around before the police start looking for heads to knock. He needs to do something before then, just has to figure out what. “All right.”

She shrugs on her jacket, then reaches in her bra and pulls out three twenty pound notes, stuffing them in Nori's hoodie pocket. “Oh, come on,” he protests, trying to fight her and put the notes back in her hand. “I'm fine, don't baby me -”

“I'll baby you all I like. You haven't done a run in weeks, I know you're out of pocket money. Take your boyfriend out for once, buy him dinner.” 

He _is_ hurting for pocket money, but that's not the point. “He's not my boyfriend.” 

“Lies,” she drawls, not giving in. “Lies and falsehoods. Take him out to a film, buy him some takeaway, and blow him.” 

It's nothing Nori hasn't ever said aloud himself, but his sister saying it is absolutely repulsive. “Oh, sod _off_ ,” he whines, pushing away from her. “You three need lives of your own, all right? Yeah?” 

“Yours is so much more fun though,” she crows, getting her claws in him before he can escape and holding him against her so she can kiss his cheek. “And what sort of older sister would I be if I didn't take an interest in your well being?” She lets him go, zipping up her old coat

“One I won't kill in her sleep.” They always have to be in everything, and this isn't their business. He doesn't want them going around saying this sort of rubbish where anyone can hear. “Go on then.”

“Whatever, Nori.” She shuts the door too hard again, and the picture of Bombur's kids rattles on the wall. 

They're all just trying to drive Nori mad, that's what it is. 

Bofur chews on a toothpick. “You got yourself a proper boyfriend then? Can I meet him?” 

“Dwalin isn't my boyfriend.” He fingers the notes, liking how nice and solid they feel in his pocket. He never feels safer than when he has a knife in his pocket and some actual money. “Bifur doesn't have a job for me?” 

“He's out of town.” Bofur spins the lock on the safe. Nori would never steal from Bombur, but he still watches Bofur do it, interested, despite knowing he shouldn't be. He can't help himself from planning out just how he would do it, and how he would get the attention from himself, and how easy it would be, because Bombur would never believe that of Nori. It's more a game than anything he really wants to do, though. It's not in him to steal from friends. “Hey, if he's not your boyfriend, don't be bringing anything around his place anymore, alright? That's just asking for trouble, and you know it.” 

Nori shakes his head. “Dwalin isn't going to grass me up.” 

“You don't know that, Nori, not for sure. What if he's having it off with someone else, decides he likes them better?” 

The idea makes Nori's skin crawl. “He's _not_ ,” he says, because Dwalin wouldn't do that. He just...he wouldn't. He wouldn't screw Nori over like that. He's not like that. “And I can't always go home right away, can I, no thanks to you.” 

“That wasn't all my fault,” Bofur protests. “I don't care what your sister says, she was the one that kept looking at the police like an idiot.” 

She probably was, but that's not the point. She's Nori's sister, and he'll always choose his family over everyone else in the world. It doesn't matter if they're wrong or right, not a bit. The point is that they're _his_. “You're the one who never shuts your mouth.” 

“Why you trying to make trouble?” He's more curious than angry. It's too hard to make Bofur angry. Nori doesn't know why he tries. 

He didn't have to act like Dwalin would be sleeping around. That was just rude. It's not like it matters, but it's still rude. And it's not like it ever looks like there's anyone else ever in Dwalin's flat, except him and his brother, and he never gets texts or anything when he and Nori are together. 

They leave it at that anyway. Bofur finishes whatever it is Bombur asked him to do with the paperwork, then prepares and rolls a skinnier joint than Nori likes, mixed with his own herbal blend, and lights it, sitting on the desk, one of his feet kicking the wood with a good, solid, 'thunk' sort of noise. He offers it to Nori, and Nori takes a polite hit. Bofur fancies making his own herbal mixes for flavour, and they're usually too sweet for Nori. This one has tobacco and cloves in it, he can tell that much. It's not bad, but he's not sure he likes it either. It leaves a funny taste in his mouth.

He does like the free buzz, so he sits with Bofur until the world gets a bit softer and slower, aware of his mobile buzzing in his pocket a few times until he finally feels like looking at it. Dwalin tried to ring him, then sent a text. _Alone tonight_. No punctuation. Dwalin always spells things as right as he can get them, but he never uses punctuation. Nori wonders what he has against the idea. 

_Are you asking if I'm alone, or are you saying you're alone?_ , Nori sends back, because he's not sure. 

_Balin is away_

“Want to meet him?” Nori offers to Bofur, because he does want to stay out of the house a little longer, and all the bloody questions. “Would really get at Mori.” 

“I don't know that I want to be anywhere near Mori's line of fire.” Bofur shakes his head. “I've seen what she does to you lot, and she loves you. She don't love me.” He licks his lips, and ducks out the office door, careful to keep the door mostly shut, and comes back in with two bottles of soda, passing one to Nori, the cold condensation on it making it hard to open. 

“She don't even like you all that much,” Nori tells him. “Says you're a bad influence on me. Seems to think you're going to lead me down a wicked path.” He takes another hit while Bofur struggles with his own bottle, finally using his teeth. 

Bofur takes the joint back. “That's fair,” he admits. “But mean. And mostly not true.” He blows a smoke ring and pokes at it, dissolving the smoke. “Alright then. Got a few people coming over to the flat tonight. Tell him to come by. We'll have a good look, won't we?” 

That wasn't really what Nori meant. Maybe he should say no. That sounds like a boyfriend sort-of thing. But there'll be food. And Dwalin likes food. So Nori texts him, Dwalin texts back, and Nori almost takes it back, because it feels weird. Feels like he's asking for something he shouldn't be asking for.

Six comes around in Bofur's flat, and there's too many people, and Dwalin still hasn't shown. Nori takes out his mobile to check for any messages, then puts it back, keeping his fingers around it so he doesn't miss anything, keeps doing it over and over, rinse and repeat. Bofur's windows don't let him see out to the pavement, the angle sort of funny, and the light isn't good anyway. Two police cars roll past, nice and slow, but they don't stop and no one knocks on the door. If anyone cares about the smoke and the noise, they apparently don't care enough to risk the police being in the building, or maybe they're scared of Bofur, just a little. Criminal records tend to make people look at you a little sideways. 

It's gone seven by the time Dwalin walks in, a good few inches taller than almost everyone else in the room, and Nori finally lets go of his mobile, putting out his cigarette on the windowsill. But Dwalin's got someone with him, another tall man with a lot of long black hair and a beard and he's fit, really fit, and right at Dwalin's side, and Nori's stomach does something really painful. 

Dwalin's not his boyfriend. It's still rude to show up with someone else though, isn't it? 

“Hey,” Dwalin says when he spots Nori, and braces both arms against the wall, caging Nori in, ducks down and kisses him. Nori grabs at his shirt, twisting the old cotton in his fingers. 

“Who's that?” Oh bloody fucking hell, he sounds so fucking stupid. 

Dwalin kisses him again, like it isn't anything. “That's Thorin.” 

“Why'd you bring him?” He lets go of Dwalin's shirt, and touches his scalp, where he has a lot of dark stubble growing in. He likes the scratchy feel of it on his fingers, and he likes that everyone sees him touching Dwalin like this, so they all know he came here for Nori and they can all just sod off. “Thought you were alone.”

“Why are you acting like this?” 

Oh, now he wants to be perceptive. “Tell you what, next time I invite you to a party, I'll bring someone else too.” He pushes at Dwalin's shoulder, and of course he doesn't get the hint, just keeps standing there and looking at Nori. He feels short and skinny and seventeen, and he hates it, because Dwalin looks grown and like he would look a whole lot better beside Thorin than Nori. Nori's the idiot who just spent the last two bloody hours holding his mobile and waiting for a text, and Dwalin was with Thorin. 

“Thorin's got a boyfriend.” 

“Because that means something?” 

Dwalin pushes off the wall. He's too fucking tall. “Good to know that's how you feel.” 

It's noisy in the flat. It's bloody noisy, and Nori gone and gotten a headache and now he's fucked up the night with his stupid mouth. He can never seem to shut his gob, fuck, he's such an idiot sometimes. “Wait,” he says, and grabs Dwalin's shirt, yanks him back. “Wait, alright?” 

He waits. Of course he does. 

“Sorry.” He doesn't want Dwalin to go. He wants him to stay right here. “Sorry. I've got a headache.” He doesn't, not really, but that's what Dori says whenever he's in a bad mood, so that's what Nori's got to work with. “It's noisy.” He works with what he's got, like he always has his whole life, and slides his hands up Dwalin's chest. “Want to go somewhere quieter?” 

Not like he really thought Dwalin would say no. 

Bofur would get hacked off if Nori took Dwalin to his bedroom, and it's not like Nori wants to risk doing anything in there. Bofur's room is never clean. There's a little spare room that gets used as a study, sometimes, if Bofur's running stuff from the flat, with a couch against the wall, and that's clean, and dark, and when Nori closes the door, they're all alone. 

Music is still loud and the walls are thin, but it's quieter and there's no one to get in the way and Nori doesn't have to talk now, not if he doesn't want to. He sits beside Dwalin on the couch, and tries not to think anymore. Thinking is getting him in trouble. 

“What'd you mean by that?” Dwalin asks. “Out there?”

“Nothing.” He doesn't want to talk, he wants to make Dwalin forget how he was acting before. 

“Stop.” He won't let Nori kiss him. Nori doesn't know what to do. “You meant something. I'm not doing anything with Thorin. You know that. I've told you about him.” He has. He's told Nori about Thorin. Thorin is his best mate. Thorin's sister has kids Ori's age. Nori knows this, but he didn't know that's what Thorin looked like. 

Nori tries to kiss him again, but Dwalin won't play along. “I don't know. I was just talking.” He doesn't like the way Dwalin is looking at him. “What?”

“Why'd you say it didn't matter?” 

“What are you talking about?”

Dwalin's not looking at him now, but Nori doesn't feel any better. “Told you Thorin had a boyfriend, you acted like that didn't mean anything.” Nori wants to touch him. Doesn't know why, he just does. But he's probably not supposed to, not right now. “Does it mean anything to you?” 

“Does what?” 

“Does having a boyfriend mean anything to you?” He sounds angry, but Nori can't work out why. “Or do you just run around and do whatever you want?” 

Nori shrugs. “I guess. I don't know. Why do you care?” 

Dwalin doesn't say anything for too long, and Nori doesn't know what to say or do. After a forever and a half of silence, Dwalin stands up. “Guess I don't.” He walks out, just goes to the door, walks out, and shuts it behind him. He leaves Nori sitting there on the sofa, and Nori can't think of what to do, so he stays sitting there until he gets angry. 

Then he gets up, goes back out into the rest of the people, but Dwalin and Thorin are both gone. 

He wants to text him. But Nori's not the one who walked out, so he just holds onto his mobile in his pocket, waiting for it to vibrate, waiting for an explanation or an apology or for Dwalin to come back inside, explain what the bloody fuck that was all about. Nori waits an hour, talks to people, tries not to check the time on the phone because he knows he's really just looking and hoping to see a text he's missed. 

He waits a whole hour, and then he goes home, only realising it's dark out when he's halfway there, and he's an idiot. The police must have better things to do though, because he gets in the front door without so much as a light getting flashed at him. 

Everyone is watching a show in the living room, except Ori, because it's past his bedtime. “Supper is on the counter,” Dori says, so that's where Nori goes. He leaves his mobile in his hoodie pocket. He doesn't care if Dwalin texts him. But he eats in the living room so he can sit with everyone else, and he tries not to listen for the buzzing. Not like he could hear it over everyone anyway.

There's no messages by the time he gets in bed. There's none in the morning either.

He uses Sori's melon shampoo and conditioner when he's in the shower, just because he feels like being spiteful towards someone and it might as well be her. He shaves his face with Dori's razor too. It's all stupid. 

Not a single damn word, when he checks again.

His hair is wet and it's fucking cold when he goes outside, and the sun is barely up. Nori's angry enough not to care, or say he doesn't, but he's shivering when he gets to Dwalin's door and knocks, already getting the chilled feeling he fucking hates. 

He knocks twice, and his shoulders hurt from the cold. 

“Are you mad?” Dwalin pulls him in, shuts the door. “Your hair is wet. You're going to die, you know that?”

“Why'd you walk out?” Nori's cold, but he's still angry. “What was that about?”

“You really are mad.” He doesn't throw Nori back out. “I haven't got any tea or anything. You're going to die.” Nori's not going to die. It's warm inside the flat. He's just miserable right this minute. His hair feels stiff and weird. “And I walked out because first you were acting like I was cheating on you or something, then said you didn't care. I don't want my boyfriend telling me it doesn't matter.” 

Nori rubs his nose. Now that he's in the warm, it's running. “You didn't say I was your boyfriend.” 

“Did I have to?” 

“I don't know.” 

“We have sex, Nori. You're always over here. You bring me food. We go out. What else are we?” It sounds right, but Nori can't think of what he wants to say. “You sleeping with other people?” 

“No. Don't want to.” Dwalin looks kind of upset, but it's better than it was. “I like you. I like you a lot.”

Dwalin pulls Nori's hat off. It's wet from his hair, but Nori's head feels colder without it. “I like you too. Didn't think I needed to spell it out for you. You're smarter than me. Figured you knew.” He hangs the hat on the metal hook built into the wall. It's not dripping, but Nori thinks it might start if it hangs there long enough. “Get your scarf and stuff off. Let it dry.” 

It gets hung on the hook beside the one the hat is hanging on. It's wet too, where it was touching Nori's hair. The back of his hoodie is damp, so Nori yanks that off over his head. He's still freezing, and he's not sure if it's better or worse without the extra stuff on. 

“Can you be my boyfriend?” Nori asks, because he's cold and he really likes Dwalin and apparently it's alright. Dwalin likes him too. It's not just the sex and the weed and the food. He likes Nori. 

“I am your boyfriend,” Dwalin says.

**Author's Note:**

> Want a fic of your very own? You're in luck, I'm having a fire sale!  
> Everything is explained in this post on my Tumblr. There's nothing offensive or triggering (i don't think, tell me if there is), no screamers or anything awful, I swear! [Here](http://themarchrabbit.tumblr.com/post/123620554414/marchs-day)
> 
> A reminder that if you have already pledged, and have not already made your request, to please do so in my Tumblr box, and if you have some more specific wants, please tell me an e-mail we can communicate by. Thank you to everyone who has helped out so far, I am eternally grateful.


End file.
